Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Resurfaced Photos Of JD Vance Dressed In Drag In College Spark Hilarious Drag Name

J.D. Vance
Adam Bettcher/Getty Images

Viral photos of the Republican vice presidential nominee wearing a long blonde wig while at Yale Law School prompted calls for his drag name to be 'Sofa Loren.'

Viral photographs of former President Donald Trump's running mate J.D. Vance wearing a long blonde wig while at Yale Law School sparked a hilarious drag name inspired by a viral rumor that he had sex with a couch: Sofa Loren.

Social media has been flooded with jokes and memes suggesting that Vance once engaged in a sexual act with couch cushions. The viral claim that Vance wrote about having sex with a couch in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, is untrue.


On July 15, the day Vance was confirmed as Trump’s running mate, X user @rickrudescalves claimed that Vance might be the first vice-presidential pick to have admitted in a New York Times bestseller to "f***ing an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (Vance, Hillbilly Elegy, pp. 179-181)." Vance never describes anything of the sort in his book.

On Sunday, a photo of a man who looks like Vance dressed in drag went viral on X, formerly Twitter. The image appeared to depict a man in a blonde wig, wearing a large necklace and a floral skirt. The photo's source, Travis Whitfill, claimed it was taken by a Yale student in 2012, during the time Vance was attending law school there.

Whitfill shared the image with podcast host Matt Bernstein, who then posted it on social media, writing:

“I have obtained a photo of JD Vance in drag while at Yale Law School.”

The Daily Beast was told that the photo was "from a group chat of Vance’s fellow classmates and is from a friend of a friend," and that it "was grabbed from Facebook and was taken at a Halloween party.”

You can see the photo below.

Photo of J.D. Vance in dragTravis Whitfill

Later, Bernstein shared that he'd received another photo of Vance that you can see below.


Photo of J.D. Vance in dragTravis Whitfill

And shortly afterward, one X user dropped the perfect drag name for Vance, who introduced the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” a bill intended to criminalize facilities that offer gender-affirming care to minors, and has promoted baseless Republican attacks that drag queens are "groomers" who sexualize children.

They said:

"Yo, [J.D. Vance] you look slay mama. What's your drag name? Sofa Loren?"

You can see the post below.

The name plays off not just the couch rumor but on the name of Hollywood's most enduring stars: Sophia Loren.

Loren, an Italian actress, became an international sensation starting in the 1950s with roles in films like The Pride and the Passion (alongside Frank Sinatra), and Houseboat (with Cary Grant).

Although Loren's status as a sex symbol was firmly established, she proved herself to be one of the finest actresses of her era, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women and garnering a multitude of awards in her native Italy and elsewhere for performances in films as diverse as Marriage Italian Style, A Special Day, and The Life Ahead.

It was clever as can be—and people couldn't get enough of it.


Vance is of course not the only Republican politician to be called out for wearing drag despite running on an anti-LGBTQ+ platform.

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee was forced to respond to a resurfaced photograph of him dressed as a woman in his high school yearbook as he prepared to sign an anti-drag show bill into law. Lee said comparisons between the performances targeted by the legislation and an old yearbook photograph of him in drag were "ridiculous."

The photograph, from a 1977 Williamson County high school yearbook, shows a young Lee dressed as a woman, alongside girls dressed in suits and ties. He could not point to any specific instances in which drag queens had ever sexualized children, only saying it is imperative to protect young children from "obscenity" even though Tennessee already has obscenity laws on the books.

And perhaps most notably, gay former New York Republican Representative George Santos' drag past under the name "Kitara Ravache" while living in Brazil came back to haunt him after a Brazilian drag queen named Eula Rochard, who knew Santos under the name "Anthony," told reporters that Santos was a "poor" drag queen who could only afford a simple black dress when he started.

Rochard added that Santos was nonetheless "always a liar" and a "dreamer" who wanted to be Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro.

More from News/2024-election

Man in a tux wearing fancy watch
Charbel Aoun/Unsplash

People Recall The Most Out Of Touch Thing They've Heard Anyone Say

Getting everyone's point of view can be fascinating whenever you're with a group of people engaged in a discussion on a range of topics. However, the occasion can be eye-opening when someone unable to read the room makes a comment that can be interpreted as wildly inappropriate.

In an age where social norms are always challenging the way we engage in discourse, nothing is surprising... except for that one rare instance.

Keep ReadingShow less
Steve Guttenberg
KTLA

Actor Steve Guttenberg Praised For Helping Fire Crew Move Abandoned Cars Amid L.A. Wildfires

There has been all kinds of heroism that emerged in Los Angeles amid the horrifying wildfires ravaging the city. And one of those moments involves an icon of '80s cinema.

Actor Steve Guttenberg, best known for his roles in '80s classics like Police Academy, Short Circuit and Three Men And A Baby, is going viral after stepping in to help first responders.

Keep ReadingShow less
A man sitting outside with his head in his hands
man on thinking pose
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

People Describe The Lowest Point In Their Lives

At some point in our lives, we've all said that a certain day was "the worst day of my life."

Chances are, we said that when we were fairly young, and many days followed that were, in fact, much worse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Meghan Markle; 'Guy,' Markle's beagle
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images, @meghan/Instagram

Meghan Markle Pays Poignant Tribute To Her 'Sweet' Rescue Dog After His Death

Meghan Markle is grieving the loss of her beloved beagle named Guy, saying she's cried "too many tears to count" in a poignant tribute on her reactivated Instagram account.

The Duchess of Sussex said she adopted Guy from a dog rescue in Canada after he was given a "few days to live" while previously at a kill shelter in Kentucky.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Glenn Close; J.D. Vance
The View/YouTube; Scott Olson/Getty Images

Glenn Close Says JD Vance Changed After 'Hillbilly Elegy' Film: 'I Don't Know What Happened'

Actor Glenn Close is an eight-time Academy Award nominee, recognized for her work in such classics as The World According to Garp, Fatal Attraction, and Dangerous Liaisons.

But her most recent nomination came in 2021 in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work as Mamaw—the grandmother of a young J.D. Vance—in Ron Howard's adaptation of Vance's bestseller Hillbilly Elegy, which positioned him as a notable voice on rural America and the political ascent of Donald Trump, now the president-elect.

Keep ReadingShow less